


Fun on Fire

by Sparky_Lurkdragon



Category: Dwarf Fortress, No Fandom
Genre: Brief Nudity Mention, Brief Undead Mention, Cussing, Darkfic, Darkfic Meta, Gen, Imported, Imported from Tumblr, Imported from lurkdragonstuff blog, Meta Essay, brief death mention, purity culture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:55:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25202812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sparky_Lurkdragon/pseuds/Sparky_Lurkdragon
Summary: How a concept from theDwarf Fortressfandom can be applied more widely to help understand the appeal of darkfic.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 8





	Fun on Fire

I think the idea of !!fun!! or “fun on fire” is a concept that should have wider understanding in fandom circles.

!!Fun!! is a concept from the _Dwarf Fortress_ fandom. To explain briefly, _Dwarf Fortress_ is many things and one thing it is is a real-time, pausable strategy game. Units that are on fire are symbolized by their unit symbol flashing a “!!” periodically.

_Dwarf Fortress_ is also, famously, really hard to get into because there’s so many working parts that many, many, _many_ things can go wrong and lead to a fortress-ending calamity. The fandom has kind of embraced this with the concept of !!fun!!. Yes, it is currently going spectacularly wrong and the player’s plans have been derailed because the fort got attacked by a giant monster or the player forgot to tell the dwarves to make clothing and now morale has crashed violently because everyone’s running around naked, but damn, this will make a cool and/or funny story by the time it’s all over.

Yes, sometimes it’s really nice to build a happy, well-managed fort on an island and not worry about goblin raids. But sometimes it’s nice to embark in a hostile biome that has dust periodically blowing in that reanimates corpses and is right next to the goblin capital, and surviving and thriving _anyway_ , even after you dig too deep and start getting attacked by kaiju that time forgot. It’s fun because it’s _!!fun!!_

So it is also with darkfic. Even when there’s an unhappy ending, it’s still !!fun!! for the writer and at least some readers. And sometimes it’s !!fun!! because the characters earned their happy ending. Holy moly did they earn it.

!!Fun!! can be a bummer if you’re not expecting it or if you’re not in the mood to work for fun - I’m often not, and that’s when I play _Animal Crossing_ and seek out fluffy fics. There is nothing wrong with that and much merit in it.

But damn, when I get the craving for !!fun!!, no amount of _Animal Crossing_ or fluff is going to sate it.


End file.
